Page 20 of How to Entice a Fiend

“I… could probably find it, but is there a reason why?”

“I wanted to show them pictures of how cute that cat is!”

She hangs up on me. Which… I mean, I’m not quite sure I blame her. What a delightful woman.

I wander the room for a bit, curious what they were looking for and whether they found it. I don’t see much of interest, and if they were looking for what I removed from the body, I took that with me. The safest place is on my person, of course.

I have an hour before the council meeting that I should get ready for. And with the way things are going, it’s definitely going to be fun.

CHAPTER SIX

MADS

When I arrive at the council hall, I find the VRC crew waiting by the front door. I also see two other members of the UK council, a woman named Leona and a man named Callum. Beyond them are many other members I don’t know, so I just go over to those I do.

“Good morning,” I say.

Leona gives me a glance. “Ah, Mads.”

“Don’t seem so excited to see me.”

“I have absolutely zero ability to be excited about much of anything anymore,” Leona says.

“You act like you’ve lived a long and tough life but you’re one of the youngest of us,” Callum says in his rich Scottish accent. I don’t see him as often since he resides in Scotland and only comes over when there are things of concern. “I guess I don’t know how old Mads is.”

“Not very,” I assure him. “A baby compared to the rest of you.”

“I thought as much but didn’t want to assume,” he says.

I notice Marcus staring at me and offer him a smile. He doesn’t smile back but seems caught up in our conversation. Turning back to Callum and Leona, I ask, “You two just arrived, did you get a chance to meet the VRC?”

“Not yet,” Callum says.

“I saw they were here, but it sure didn’t look like they were interested in speaking,” Leona comments.

I wave them over to the VRC. “I’m eager to introduce you all to my colleagues.”

“I’m less than eager,” Alexei mutters.

“I’d love to be included in introductions,” a member from the Asian council says. “I’ve met Marcus and Claude but the rest of you I have not. You can call me Ha-joon.”

“I’m Callum and this is Leona,” Callum says as he holds out his hand to shake.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Finn responds. “I’m Finn, and this is Marcus, Brooks, Alexei, Claude, Orin, Briar, and Bentley.”

“Let’s get started,” Harris calls, interrupting our introductions. To my understanding, he’s the only one who is still on the US council besides a few people who are unrelated to the main seats, such as secretaries or assistants. And from my observation, the VRC has an extreme dislike of him.

We follow Harris into the room where a few others who I don’t know are seated. We all take our seats as Harris avoids looking at anyone from the VRC.

“I would like to begin by hearing the events told from the viewpoint of the VRC,” Callum says. “Not that I don’t believe what’s been said. I’ve just… stories travel and change, and I’ve heard a few things from others who claim to have been there. I’d love to hear what happened right from the source. This is why I requested they were all here today.”

I swear Harris pales considerably.

“Let’s start off with Harris being an absolute waste of space who causedall of this to happen,” Marcus growls.

“All of it? Impressive,” I say.

Marcus’s glower whips around to face me. Apparently, I should have kept my mouth shut.

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